The
latest installment of the Halo
video game series hit its stride within the first 24 hours of its
release. Microsoft's
Halo:
Reachpulled
in more than $200 million dollars globally on its launch day,
according toReutersand VentureBeat.

"What
Halo:
Reach numbers
tell me is gamers are there," said Vice President of Microsoft
Game Studios, Phil Spencer. "They are willing to buy the
great experiences when they come out. In fact, that we are exceeding
Halo
3 numbers
out of the gate tells me that the industry is in a healthy
state."

The gaming industry has experienced a sales slump
in recent months. The break-out success of Halo:
Reach,
along with the anticipated rise
of video game sales during the holiday shopping season are
expected to help end the downturn.

"Every major installment has grown
in scope and popularity, firmly cementing the Halo
franchise as one of the most popular entertainment properties in the
world over the past decade."

Reach
is a prequel to the main Halo
trilogy. The last installment of the trilogy, Halo
3,
released in 2007 brought in $170 million in its first 24 hours and
generated more than $300 million in its first week.

In total,
the Halo
franchise has grossed nearly $2 billion in sales and sold more than
34 million copies in its nine-year run.

The $200 million
record-breaking figure made Reach
the biggest entertainment launch so far this year in the U.S. alone,
but the prequel's debut still falls short of the biggest
entertainment launch to date.

In November 2009,
Activision’s Call
Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 raked
in $310 million in first day sales in the U.S. and the U.K.

"There is a single light of science, and to brighten it anywhere is to brighten it everywhere." -- Isaac Asimov